The gate to the Department of Energy's Rocky Flats Site is seen south of Boulder in this 2015 photo. (Daily Camera file photo)

The incidence of various cancers in communities surrounding the former Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant is generally no higher than cancer rates elsewhere in metro Denver, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment found.

In the Boulder area, though, researchers found the incidence of prostate cancer was slightly higher than in other places near Rocky Flats.

The study examined incidence of different types of cancer — esophagus, stomach, colon and rectum, liver, lung, prostate, bone, leukemia, lymphoma, brain and central nervous system — among residents living in 10 areas near the former weapons plant just south of Boulder city limits and 16 miles northwest of downtown Denver.

This is a 1991 aerial view of the Rocky Flats nuclear weapons facility, 16 miles northwest of Denver. (Associated Press)

Officials conducted a study about two decades ago that examined cancer incidence near Rocky Flats from 1980 to 1989, and this latest probe used the same methods as the original study, but considered cancers occurring from 1990 to 2014.

The conclusion of that original study was that cancer rates near Rocky Flats were "no different than expected" based on rates in the remainder of metro Denver. The data released today seems to confirm that statement, said Mike Van Dyke, the state's chief of environmental epidemiology.

"This study definitely can't rule out that specific cases of cancer may have been related to Rocky Flats," he said, "but that was not the intent of the study. What we know is we don't see a signal that there are increased cancers in the communities around Rocky Flats compared to the rest of the Denver area."

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Among the types of cancer the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment reviewed, elevated levels were found for lung, esophagus, colorectal and prostate cancers, but only in certain areas and in limited demographics.

Cancer of the esophagus, for example, was elevated in women who live in Golden. Colorectal cancer was elevated in men in parts of Adams County, and lung cancer was elevated in men and women in three of the 10 communities surveyed.

Along what the health department calls the "periphery" of Boulder, the study found about 500 prostate cancer diagnoses — a 22-percent increase over the expected rate. The study notes that Boulder County historically has had higher rates of prostate cancer, which experts attribute to the fact that people in affluent areas are more prone to undergo screenings.

"It's one of those cancers that can go undetected a lot of times," Van Dyke said. "I don't think prostate cancer has any strong link with plutonium or anything that came from the site, so I think this is ... a finding due to increased screening."

Cancer levels in that same swath of Boulder were actually lower than expected for lung, liver and most of the other cancers considered by the study.

The findings are consistent with proclamations made in recent years by refuge management and state health officials who have insisted there is no risk to public health, past or present, resulting from the Department of Energy's previous work at Rocky Flats.

The plant was used for weapons production until a 1989 FBI raid suspended most operations there. Production officially ceased in 1992, and a $7 billion cleanup effort was deemed complete in 2005.

A portion of Rocky Flats is currently being eyed as part of the Rocky Mountain Greenway, which is a proposed uninterrupted trail system connecting the region's three National Wildlife Refuges: Rocky Mountain Arsenal, Two Ponds and Rocky Flats.

Boulder is among the communities lending money and expertise to the Greenway project. City Councilwoman Lisa Morzel has been active in the process, and said by phone Thursday, "Before anything happens, we will do a soil collection" to better understand possible health risks related to radioactive plutonium.

Some, though, believe the Rocky Flats refuge that would be a part of the broader Greenway is still contaminated. The refuge currently surrounds a site labeled under the federal "Superfund" program responsible for cleaning up the country's most drastic environmental emergencies.

LeRoy Moore, a founder of Boulder's Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center, who worked to press for the end of weapons production at Rocky Flats, has been among the most active voices professing the land's health risks.

"Plutonium from this area will move onto the refuge," he said in April. "Groundwater will transport some, burrowing animals and plant uptake will bring some to the surface, where it can be moved onto the refuge by wind, water or other activity. Tiny airborne particles can be readily inhaled, the worst way to be exposed to plutonium."

He added: "If the public is allowed access to the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge, some will be harmed — especially children, the most vulnerable."

And a study produced in late 2016 by Metro State University, which measured some other rare cancers that the state health department did not, showed high incidence of thyroid cancer is particular.

That study's lead author said the results weren't "definitive," but she did call the prevalence of thyroid cancer "unusual."

The latest output from the health department does not take thyroid cancer into account. Van Dyke said his office is planning to evaluate that soon.

But, he added, "We have looked at thyroid cancer in all those communities and it does not appear to be elevated."

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